Improvement in machines for sewind straw braid



2 Sheets-Sheet 11.

O. F. BOSWORTH.

Machine for Sewing Straw-Braid.

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0.1 BQSWORTH" Machines forS'ewingStraw-Braid.

Pafented Jan. 22, 1878;

No. l99,59 Q3.

' N.FETERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPIHER, WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATEsPATENr QFFIGE.

CHARLES F. oswonrn, on MILFORD, oonnnorrour.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FORSEWING STRAW BRAID.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 19$i,5 )0,.dated anuary 22 1878; application filed July 18, 1877. i

To. all whom it may concern! A I Be it known that I,OHAs. F. BOSWORTH, of -Milford, in the county of New Haven ,and. State of Connecticut, have invented'anew Improvement inMachinesfor Sewing Straw Braid; and I do hereby declare. the following,

side view; Fig. 4, plan looking down upon-the, needle-bar and work-plate Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8, detached views.

, This invention relates to an improvement in machines especially adapted to sewing straw braid or other narrowstrips, as for the manufacture of hats, $50., and particularly to that class in which successive braids or runs of braid are stitched to the next preceding braid by bending the two, so that the-needle.withits thread, entering the braid near the bend,

passes through onebraid, into and out of :the

other, and then out of the first on the same side at which it entered, and so that the thread will appear little,,if at all, on the surface of the second braid, opposite that which the needleentered. h r

In theclass of machines to. make this peculiar stitch the bend'is madetransversely or across the braid, and thepath of the needle is substantially parallel to the edge ofthebraids being sewed; but a serious difficulty is experienced-in making thistransverse bend, from the fact that after one braid has been stitched to its next preceding braid, (referring to the manufacture of hats,) the next time round, the bend of the preceding braid, to receive the next run, can be made only upon the edge being sewed, the opposite edge being held up by the preceding braid. Hence a strain must necessarily be made in the edge of that particular braid at each bend, which more or less distorts the work. Again,'the stitch is necessarily long, and the length of the stitch in the two braids different. Hence it is very difficult to make a stitch so tight that there will not be considerable play to the braid transversely, andthe work unavoidably loose.

, The object of: this invention is to overcome this difliculty, consisting, essentially, in the combination, with a sewing mechanism, of a mechanism operating at the overlapping edge of the two strips to be sewed, to bend the two strips at the edge longitudinally, and so that the needle and its thread will pass transversely through the said longitudinal bendto secure the two braids together, as more fully hereinafterdescribed.

. Aisthe work-plate, here represented as of a cylindrical form; but the shape of the surmay be employed.

. Through thework-plate a slot, 1), is formed, 4

as seen in Fig. 4, at right angles to the path of the needle. Directly over this and supported in ahead, 1), is a vertical slide or bender,E, to which a vertical reciprocating movement is imparted from a cam on the driving-shaft, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 1. The position of i this bender E is directly over the slot Zni'n the work-plate, and its extent of movement is from a point above the workplate more than the thickness of the braid, as seen in Fig. 6, to such a point through the slot 1) and below the surface of the work-plate A as to carry the two braids down into the path of the needle, as seen in Fig. 5, d representing the preceding braid, and e the incoming run of braid. A notch, f, is made in the bender E, which will allow the bender, each side the notch, to pass below the path of the needle, the needle passing through the notch f.

The two strips to be sewed are presented with the edge of one braid overlapping the corresponding edge of the other braid, as seen in'Fig'. 6, the incoming braid being first introduced through an adjustable guide, as seen in Fig. 7 the guide adjustable as to width and as to the relative position of the bender E the other braid .or part to which the incoming braid is to be 'stitched running against a guide,

F, also made adjustable, so as to present thatpart in its proper relative position. 7

The edge of the under braid extends over the slot d in the work-plate, as seen in Fig. 6, and the corresponding edge of the upper braid also extends over the slot, so that the edges to be stitched will extend across the path of the bender E, and so that when the bender E withdrawn.

The work is fed for another stitch, but before the feed, and in order to insure the return of the bend, a follower, H, is arranged below the workplate, and corresponding to the bender E, and to which a reciprocating movement is imparted by a cam, L, on a shaft below the work-plate, as seen in Fig. 2. After the needle has been withdrawn the follower H rises, as seen in. Fig. 6, and throws the bend up flush with the upper surface of the work-plate, descending again before the next bend is made, the feed occurring after the braid has been thus raised and before the follower descen ds.

The feed, as here represented, is an upper feed, N, attached to a feed-bar, M, operated by a cam, P, on the shaft througha lever, B, the feed being shown in Fig. 1 as raised, and as down in broken lines. The feed acts substantially in the usual manner of upper feeds in sewing-machines; but it is, however, made with two feeding-surfaces, n and m, between which the bender operates, as seen in Fig. 8, the two differing in their plane according to the thickness of the braid, so that the one feed, n,will take the incoming or upper'run of braid, while the other, m, will take the preceding or lower run.

In order to prevent the needle glancing from the bent braid, a guide, 1", is arranged in its path andin close. proximity to the bent braid, as seen in Fig. 5, through which" the needle passes before it enters the braid, and so as to hold the needle up to and prevent its glancing from the braid.

The take-up for the needle-thread consists of stationary loops 1 and 3 and loops 2 and 4 on the needle-bar B, (see Fig. 4,) thethread running first through loop 1, and successively through loops 2, 3, and 4 to the needle, as indicated in broken lines.

. The longitudinal bend of the braid, as described, and transverse punctures of the needle, allow short stitches to be made, and, because both braids are punctured in the same line transversely, a very much firmer stitch is made than by the old method-of transverse bending, and the distortion of the braid occasioned by thetransverse bending, as before used, is entirely avoided.

Having described my invention, I claim l 1. The herein-described method of sewing straw-braid edge to edge, consisting in bending longitudinally one edge of each of the two braids to be stitched together, and then, while their edges are lapped and folded, passing a needle with its thread transversely through the folded portion of the braids to secure the braids together in a flat state, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

. 2. The combination,with sewing mechanism, of mechanism adapted to guide straw or other plaited braids, and present the two runs of braid to be stitched together in a longitudinally bent or folded condition to the needle,

substantiallyas described.-

3. In combination, the slotted work-plate, a reciprocating needle moving in a path transverse to the said slot, a reciprocating bender working into or through said slot, and a feed mechanism working at right angles -to the path of the needle, substantially .as described.

4. In combination, the'slotted work-plate, a reciprocating needle moving in a path transverse to the said slot, a reciprocating bender working into or through said slot, a feed mechanism working. at right angles to the path of the needle, and a reciprocating follower corresponding to the bender, and working from the opposite or under side of the work-plate, substantially as described.

CHARLES F. BOSWORTH. 

